White River Amphitheatre is a Live Nation managed concert venue, located 8 miles east of Auburn, Washington and 7 miles west of Enumclaw, Washington on the Muckleshoot Indian Reservation. It is 22 miles northeast of Tacoma and 36 miles southeast of Seattle. The capacity is 16,000, with 9,000 covered seats.[1][2] Completed in 2003, the 98-acre project cost more than $30 million and hosts musical events under an acoustically treated metal roof; it features two 30-by-40-foot video screens on either side of the stage.[1]

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White River Amphitheater opened on June 14, 2003. Home-town stars Heart were the opening act. Although ground had been broken eight years earlier, the project had been delayed due to the environmental impact statement and traffic concerns.[1]

The Army Corps of Engineers signed off on construction in September 2002. In February 2003, the Washington State Department of Transportation "issued a permit allowing access from crowded, two-lane state Route 164."[1]

When it opened, the venue was operated by the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe, Clear Channel Entertainment and Bill Graham Presents.[1] Today it is operated by Live Nation; they reduced capacity from 20,000 to 16,000 in 2015.[2]

To mitigate traffic,the venue offers shuttles from (and to) the Auburn Super Mall (renamed The Outlet Collection Seattle) for some concerts. Shuttles depart after they are filled, with 42 people per shuttle.[3]

In 2003, Gregg Perloff, then president and CEO of Clear Channel Music West and Bill Graham Presents claimed that "if people don't all come the same way, it'll be very easy to get there."[1]

However, the only access to the venue is via SR 164.

Due to complaints about traffic, in 2015 Live Nation cut lawn seating by 4,000, reducing overall capacity from 20,000 to 16,000. Kevin Snyder, Community Development and Public Works Director for the City of Auburn told KOMO that the only real solution to traffic congestion would be expanding SR 164.[2]